Ataxia

twenty-one

Abhik

2041

I sat on the beach of San Luis, sighing in satisfaction. I was right where I was from the beginning, on the beach. Though Kaden wasn't beside me, nor my family. As soon as I was free and Farin was safe, I called my parents not only because I hadn't seen them in several years. And because of what I was about to do.

"Maa? Pita? Dadi?" I was using a telephone in a random town office, pacing the floor with my bare feet. The other end finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Dadi, is that you?" I exclaimed in Hindi, gripping the phone tightly. I have never been more excited to hear Dadi speak.

"Who is this? Adah, are you playing those tricks of yours? Being in college, I'd expect you to be more busy and responsible."

"No, Dadi," I took a deep breath. "This isn't Adah Didi. This ... this is Abhik. Abhik Kabadi." There was silence on the other end for a long time. "Hello?"

"Is this a joke?" She sounded as if she was about to cry. "My grandson died years ago."

"Yeah, I know. But Dadi, I'm alive." I said through the phone desperately, sounding like a crazy person. "I'm alive."

"Liar!" She was actually crying now. How could I convince her that I was her grandson? "My grandson died years ago. Whoever you are, forget my phone number and get lost, you idiot! And don't you dare ever play one of your tricks like this again!" The call ended.

I began to sob from the memory four years ago. It was my fault my family and my best friend died from that flood ... all those people ... all those souls and lives those people had ... all those innocent people ...

It was my fault.

My tears cleared away. I had four years to deal with the pain. But all those innocent lives were ended because of my recklessness and Frank Meyer.

Stupid jerk.

Frank Meyer was now the President of the world government, which was established just a couple months ago. Everyone was praising him, saying he was a great leader ... but only I knew the truth. Frank Meyer was an evil man who led experiments on people, on my friends, Darin and Farin, me, and so many others. There was no way for him to be forgiven for what he had done.

I heard scrunching in the sand nearby and I leapt to my feet, attentive to all my surroundings. My eyes caught an African-American man in his early thirties. He had a clean-shaven head and jeans and shirt that were ripped. And his eyes ... they shone in the setting sun, they were the color of ...

"Silver!" I gasped, backing into the water where I would be safe. "B-but the fight with Darin ... you haven't shown yourself ...," I said no more.

"Well then," Silver said once he was on the shoreline, merely a few feet away from me. "It's good to see you again, Abhik."

I backed further and further into the water and froze the water that went up to my ankles. Silver wouldn't be able to knock me down. His wings shot from his back and he crouched, ready to take flight. My mouth was in the shape of a perfect O and one thing came to my mind:

I'm toast.

I broke the ice at my feet and I ran into the ocean as fast as I could, diving into the water and taking off my glasses, about to change my form of matter into liquid before --

Slap!

I crashed into the water and realized I was still solid. Why wasn't I liquid? And before I could react, I was dragged out of the sea by Silver. He was in the air and flying in the opposite direction of the ocean. He was kidnapping me!

"Let me go!" I shouted, trying to pry myself out of Silver's arms. Since I couldn't turn into water, he couldn't get myself free.

"Be quiet," Silver said, taping something on my arm and I felt a rush of adrenaline before shifting to unconsciousness.

***

"Wake up, Abhik!" A foot kicked me in the ribs, hard. And I gasped, coughing up my own saliva and struggled to sit up. I looked up and I knew that face that was staring down at me, despite I didn't have my glasses on. I'd recognize his ugly face anywhere.

"Frank Meyer!" I seethed, clenching my teeth. "You're such a --"

"No need for harsh words, Abhik," the President said, holding up his hand.

"Where am I?" I commanded. I was being held back by Silver and I could barely move. And I couldn't activate my abilities, either. Was this in connection to that weird thing Silver taped on me?

"Why, you're in my home," the man said, swinging a leg over another when he settled into his chair behind his desk. "Because you're a traitor to your own country."

"You're the traitor!" I yelled and several other officers flinched from how loud I was. Good. The President never stirred. "You're the one who conducts experiments on innocent people. You poisoned the ocean. You killed Darin and broke Farin. Thanks to you, she's suffering from traumatic stress disorder. She can't even speak very well."

"Such a shame," he said with no apologetic tone in his voice at all. Jerky move. "Darin attempted to kill, so he had a right to what he got."

My eyes filled with tears, clenching my teeth to resist from lashing out. The balled up feelings that I once threw in a discard bin in my mind was now running through in images on replay. "I should've deserved his fate for what I've done ... you took my best friend away from me ...," I barely spoke, whispering so quiet that Meyer could barely hear me.

"Boy, you drowned half the US with those stupid abilities of yours. You have --"

"Mind, you gave me those abilities," I muttered quietly.

"You have such power within you, which is why you need to go somewhere where you'll never hurt anyone ever again."

"You've begun to kill people like me!" I raged quite loudly. "Half the world right now suffers from the disease you started from your fancy experiments. So you have no right to lock me up. You should be the one who is locked up!"

"Silver," the President said very calmly. "Take this boy into the confinement where he'll never see the light again." Silver began dragging me off and I was kicking and screaming.

"You can lock me up, Meyer! But I swear I'll be back for my revenge!"